Yuri and Michelle Sagatov wanted to make their home the go-to spot for their teenage children before and after football and soccer games, as well as prom parties. But the family also wanted to spend quality time with them while giving everyone enough privacy.

Their solution: to build a striking contemporary $2.8 million house with four interconnected pavilions -- each with its own bedroom and bathroom -- to provide both communal and individual spaces.

The 7,000-square-foot house has a large open kitchen and a separate living room taken up entirely by a circular sunken conversation pit, something they had seen in other houses and always loved. For separation, the pavilions angle away from each other, connected by a central staircase.

They bought the property in Arlington, Va., in 2019 for $870,000 and tore down the existing small ranch-style house. Then they started the new build, finishing in 2021. The house was close to the high school their kids attended; to encourage their teenagers' friends to spend time there, the Sagatovs put in a swimming pool with an adjacent heated outdoor lounge and a sports room with a 12-foot-high ceiling in the basement for playing soccer, basketball and tennis.

"We didn't want our kids just disappearing into their rooms," said Yuri, 50, founder and principal designer of ODE Design, a design-build company based in Falls Church, Va. "We wanted places where they would want to hang out with us and their friends."

The plan worked, said Alina, now 19 and a rising sophomore at the University of Virginia. "My friends in high school loved coming over," she said. "Now all my college friends have been here." James, 17, a rising high-school senior, said his friends are at the house at least once a week during the school year, playing board games in the conversation pit and soccer in the basement, and in the pool all summer. He's leaning toward going to college nearby so he can come home often.

Yuri grew up working on construction projects in Northern Virginia with his father, a general contractor, and the couple have built or renovated five homes for themselves, all within a few miles of each other in Arlington. "It's our side hustle," said Michelle, a real-estate agent who works for her husband's firm.

In past homes, they always thought about resale value, so they shied away from design choices that might divide buyers. "In this house, we wanted to do what we really wanted," Yuri said.

When they saw the small ranch house where their current house now stands, they knew they had to pounce. Its lot was unusually large for the neighborhood, where developers routinely scoop up oversize lots. "You have to move quickly," Michelle said.

Before joining Yuri's firm, Michelle spent six years as an Arlington police officer, which she said helped give her a thorough understanding of the city. "It's such a great asset to have each other," Michelle said of Yuri.

Alina said this house is her favorite, which makes her worry about losing it. That feeling comes from having moved so often as her parents renovated and built new homes. "They say this is their forever home, but I think they could move again," she said.